Our start time is 0940. EAM commit time is 0900 and are normally forecasted to the center prior to the plane hitting the tarmac so that they can be properly dispatched. I don't know if this one wasn't forecasted or if the air driver had already left with the other EAMs----all I know is I walked in and was immediately asked if I wanted to start early and run off an EAM, which had already been scanned and set up for a signature. I didn't even have time to change my jacket. Yes, I could have said no, citing the fact that the EAM would be late. At that point they either would have asked someone else or they would have dispatched the EAM with the regular driver, who would have been told to deliver it as soon as possible. This would have resulted in the EAM being delivered an hour (or more) late. As it was it was delivered 2 or 3 minutes late---it would have been less had it not been for that pesky red light and would have been on time if I had been allowed to take my own car. The consignee was happy as it was a part that they really needed. The center was doing all that it could to take care of the customer while ensuring that the EAM made service in a timely manner. Had the customer had an issue with the timeliness of the delivery I would have given them the phone number for the center. I was "working as directed" but I also had no problem with what the center did as I knew the intent was to take care of the customer as best as possible. I don't know or care how they coded the time----I do know that paying me for the 45 minutes was much less than what they would have paid in a refund.
Call it a double standard-----if you or I do this on our own we would be on the outside looking in----hide behind "working as directed"----does that justify falsifying records-----all I know is that the customer was taken care of and that is why all of us are here. Question my integrity all you want but if this were to happen again I would do the same thing as the customer was taken care of.